JPMorgan, FDR and Gold; WGA Bank Top 50 for Q4 2026
Updated: 4 hours ago
November 4, 2026 | In this issue of The Institutional Risk Analyst, we update our readers on the latest results for the WGA Bank Top 50 for Q4 2026 and the financial sector more broadly. We track the top hundred or so banks by assets, basically Peer Group 1 defined by federal regulators.
Click here to read our letter to the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) regarding the request for comment on “Transfers and Servicing—Servicing Assets and Liabilities (Subtopic 860-50) Mortgage Servicing Rights—Recapture.”
Large cap banks continue to significantly underperform the market as smaller names fill leadership positions in our survey of bank stocks this quarter. Remarkably, none of the largest US banks were in the top ten stocks of the WGA Bank Top 50 this quarter. Subscribers to our Premium Service have access to the full 102 bank test group for this quarter’s rankings on our Top Rankings page. Use the coupon code TheWrap2026 for 25% off your first year.
The year 2025 was great for large cap bank stocks. We took some significant gains in Q1 and Q2 of 2026, but since the start of the Iran war and the manic updraft in AI stocks, most bank stocks have been sideways to down. The runup in bond yields this summer did not help. With the selloff in AI stocks, more money has run out of banks on the theory that there is hidden exposure to AI credit and other markets – like gold.
JPMorgan, FDR and Gold
“In mid-to-late September 2026, large amounts of physical gold (roughly 3.7 million ounces, or about 62% of its "eligible" category vault holdings) were withdrawn from JPMorgan's COMEX New York vaults by clients,” notes David Jensen. “While this represents a major reduction in stored inventory rather than a corporate trading or asset loss.”
Speaking at the Economic Club of Chicago in October 2026, JPM CEO Jamie Dimon defended the century old practice of foreign governments storing their bullion in New York for safekeeping. "That gold is protected by the Atlantic, the Pacific, the United States military, the rule of law." He alluded to the specter of European armies taking the gold once it leaves the protection of American shores.
While JPM CEO was trying to convince investors to keep their gold in his vault, the fact is that the rising tide of silly socialism in America is making a lot of global investors nervous. This is not just about Donald Trump. There is very little that members of either party can do to address affordability, but like FDR a century ago, stealing gold that belongs to a foreign nation is not a great leap for the average American politician.
One of the largest single acts of government expropriation of wealth in human history occurred in 1933 under the Democrats led by Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The confiscation was authorized by Congress without debate. The gold taken from American citizens and the member banks of the Fed at the behest of FDR sits today in Ft Knox, KY, the biggest gold hoard in the world. President Herbert Hoover famously remarked: “We have gold because we cannot trust governments.”
FDR’s treachery was ironic on many levels, but first and foremost because his uncle Frank Delano was the first vice chairman of the Federal Reserve board. In the 1930s, the Delano family was highly wealthy, epitomizing American "old money" aristocracy complete with estates in the Hudson Valley. This fact did not prevent FDR from behaving like a socialist when it suited his political needs – as with the seizure of gold in 1933.
The repositories operated by JPMorgan and HSBC Holdings (HSBC) are massive, private underground vaults located in the bowels of New York City. These vaults are approved by the New York Mercantile Exchange (COMEX) to hold the physical gold bars backing gold futures contracts. A number of analysts question whether the COMEX has sufficient deliverable gold to cover its contracts. Now you understand why Dimon is so upset by the exodus of gold offshore.
The WGA Bank Top 50 Q4 2026
JPM was in the top 10 banks in 2025, an easy hurdle since the house of Morgan is the largest bank in the US and market cap is one of the model factors. Size matters on Wall Street when it comes to funds and ETFs. But the fact is that JPM was 49th in Q4 2026, a striking comment on how institutional investors have fled this large cap leader.
JPM hit an all time high in August, but has traded off since that time. LTM, JPM is up single digits but the Invesco KBW Bank ETF (KBWB) is up just 16%, but neither of these metrics is particularly impressive compared to the AI sector that has moved triple digits in the past year.
As in 2025, Citigroup (C) continues to be the best performer in the group, up 21% LTM, Wells Fargo (WFC) is down 4% and Bank America (BAC) is down 6.5%. WFC ranked 27th in the WGA Bank Top 50, Citi ranked 81st and BAC ranked 73rd. The fundamentals on Citi are the weakest in the group, but its seems that investors don’t particularly care.
The top name in The WGA Bank Top 50 for Q4 2026 was Toronto Dominion (TD), up over 50% in the past 12 months. TD is currently trading at 2.5x book value, reflecting the runup in all large cap banks going back to 2024. TD ranked 10th in Q3 2026 in the WGA Bank Top 50.
Ranking 102nd at the bottom of the WGA Bank Top 50 test group is the stock for Washington Federal (WAFB), which has been sinking since the release of Q2 2026 earnings and accelerated downward after the September announcement of the merger with EverBank. The stock currently trades at $28.75, near its 52-week low of $26.31, with shares down 16% over the past six months due to loan sales and profitability pressures.
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